INTRODUCTION TO THE INSPIRALS...
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When most people think of the Inspiral Carpets they probably think of the following things... Floppy hair cuts, Hammond organ, more T-shirt sales than record sales and maybe a cow*. But what about the music??? The Inspiral Carpets were there at the inception of the Madchester scene. The same scene that heralded the Stone Roses, gave the Happy Mondays a wider audience and made the world sit up and realize that it wasn't just Liverpool and London that spawned genius bands. As with every other scene there was a bandwagon load of nearly-rans (Northside???) and a particular style of clothing (Gotta be a loose fitting pair of baggy jeans, and a silly hat).

The Inspirals have always regarded themselves as a tight, garage band. I think what they mean to say is that they write what they know (energetic and slightly psychedelic) and actually enjoy making music together. The public (to a lesser extent) probably began to notice the Inspirals around 1987/88 when they started to release on one of the small Indie labels.

The band had a very good pedigree, Clint Boon (Organ) being a Manchester, 'face', who along the way had played in bands with the Stone Roses Mani and had given Ian Brown an audition as an early Inspirals vocalist. Another familiar face on the alternative music front in Graham Lambert (guitar). A schoolboy drummer in the form of Craig Gill (who seemed to have all the power of any number of rock drummers).The shaven headed Martyn Walsh on Bass and finally Tom Hingley on vocals (someone who could hold a tune for a change!)

As I have probably said a dozen times before in all the other reviews I've written; I started buying and really listening to music in about 1990 (the year I was 16 and started to work). I liked rave, but to be honest I wasn't that big on standing in a field with a bunch of to$$ers, whistling and getting the vics vapour rub out (though I did once or twice). The Madchester scene was far more appealing; Guitars! Beer! Silly Clothes! Great bands! (remember 1990 was the year that New Order released the World Cup anthem 'World In Motion' - another corking Manchester band). The Inspirals were accessible, along with a whole host of others from the scene. Sure Prince was big at the time, along with Adamski, M C Hammer and a whole host of others. But bands like the Inspirals were people like us... And they were having a good time!

There are lots of interesting things going on in the world of Inspirals. They advertised on Milk bottles. Noel Gallagher was their reluctant roadie. They produced the theme for a Saturday morning childrens show (8:15 to Manchester). The list goes on (well a little bit anyway).

THE MUSIC
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It's good! Seriously. There are tunes here, some you'll recognize, others you won't. Obviously there are the well known ones (the ever brilliant 'This is how it feels' with swirling organ and haunting lyrics. The early, 'Joe' which seemed to define the bands sound and later brilliant gems like, 'Saturn 5' and 'I want You' [Crazy song with 'The Fall's' Mark.E.Smith, possibly the hardest thing they did]), and the not so well known ('Caravan' - What a corker!) It would not be an understatement to say that without the Inspirals the Madchester scene (and subsequently 'Britpop') would not have flourished as it did.

A modern comparison would probably be Maximo Park, but this would be doing the Inspirals a diservice. No offence to Maximo Park, they're in their infancy, but the Inspirals are the originals and they have tunes by the bucket load. Another reference point would be The Doors (though with less intelligent lyrics and less meandering... Oh and sorry Tom but Jim was the best frontman ever - which goes some way to demonstrating that this was a band of individuals that all brought something to the party).

As far as I can remember the band were very much a singles band. Every release seemed to come on a plethora of different formats (Vinyl, cassette, CD) and included a bewildering number of mixes and songs. Some releases had different versions to be collected, I know this because my shelves are groaning from them (if only MP3 had been about back then!) This probably justifies the 'Rare As' CD (CD2).

So any critisms?.. Well some people may find it all a bit samey. I must admit that I listened to their music solidly for many years and then switched off for a decade, only recently coming back to the band and really enjoying them again. Also if you're looking for deep, insightful, intelligent lyrics, then this, alas, probably isn't the band for you. Also I must admit that I've heard the stuff that they've recently released ('Come Back Tomorrow', included on CD1), and in my opinion the law of diminishing returns applies. But these are very, very small detractions from what is, on the whole a magnificent band. A band the UK should be proud of.

MEMORIES OF GREAT DAYS
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Everyone has a period in their life where for a time, music is their life. Mine was back in the early nineties (Inspirals) to the late nineties (Oasis). I met the band at my local HMV (I don't remember having to queue, which I think says more about Northampton than it does about the band), and they were brilliant. They all signed my 12" (whoa! easy there!) and were genuinely nice blokes. I went to see them play during their middle period ('92 - Revenge Of The Goldfish) and though they played brilliantly, I, and most of the audience were disappointed that they didn't play their early greats (like 'This is how it feels' - Clint played the opening bars on the organ and then broke off). But I'm sure they were sick to the back teeth of playing them.

THIS RELEASE
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This is great value for money. You get two CD's (disk one is the greatest hits package, disk two the rarities) and a DVD (packed with all the favourite videos, a Live segment of seven songs and a short interview). It all packaged brilliantly and has a little booklet with some info and general information and what is contained within.

At around £30 this would be good value for money... But, for all canny shoppers... £8.95 at 'CD101.CO.UK' (with free P&P!). This is unmissable! Honestly I almost fell over when I found it at this price, It reminded me of New Order spending more on each copy of the 12" of Blue Monday sold than the people buying it (the cover of each release was very expensively produced!)

CD1 (COOL AS)
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1. Keep the circle around
2. Butterfly
3. Joe (Essential!)
4. Find out why
5. Move (Essential!)
6. This is how it feels (Essential!)
7. She comes in the fall (Essential!)
8. Biggest mountain
9. Weakness
10. Caravan (Essential!)
11. Please be cruel
12. Dragging me down
13. Two worlds collide
14. Generations
15. Bitches brew
16. How it should be
17. Saturn 5 (Essential!)
18. I want you (Essential!)
19. Uniform (Essential!)
20. Come back tomorrow

CD2 (RARE AS)
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1. Theme from cow
2. Seeds of Doubt
3. Garage full of flowers
4. 96 tears
5. You can't take the truth
6. Greek wedding song (THIS IS EXCELLENT!)
7. Causeway
8. Directing traffic
9. Sackville
10. Commercial reign (THIS IS EXCELLENT!)
11. Skidoo
12. Tainted love
13. Paper moon
14. I don't want to go blind
15. Paranoid (sort yer head out mix)
16. Iron
17. You've got what it takes

(this CD perhaps gives a bit of an insight into how the band developed into the finished product. Don't expect high quality audio on this one... Some of the rarities included are very early demo's, and as such sound like it!)

DVD (SPOOL AS)
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PROMO VIDEOS
1. Joe
2. Find out why
3. Move
4. This is how it feels
5. She comes in the fall
6. Biggest mountain
7. Commercial reign (us video)
8. Caravan
9. Please be cruel
10. Dragging me down
11. Two worlds collide
12. Generations
13. Bitches brew
14. How it should be
15. Saturn 5
16. I want you
17. Uniform
18. Come back tomorrow

(very good collection. But don't expect hollywood type direction and effects from the early videos. They definetly didn't have the budget for it back in the day. Adds a bit of charm though. Mark.E.Smith looking very uncomfortable in the 'I want you' video!)

LIVE TRACKS FROM GMEX MANCHESTER
19. Real thing
20. Besides Me
21. Sackville
22. Song for a family
23. The beast inside
24. She comes in the fall
25. Grip

(I had the complete concert on video years and years ago. Great for a nostalgic look back).

BAND INTERVIEW
26. Band interview 11th Feb 2003

(short and sweet, band all having a laugh, but looking distinctly older... Like a bunch of trendy dads... Comes to us all I suppose!)

*Moo!.. The bands constant logo, that of a cow. Usually smoking a cigarette. Often seen on t-shirts with 'Cool As...****' on them.